Despite improvements to waiting lists, over five million extra appointments, and increased customer satisfaction, the NHS is hanging by a thread, says Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting.
Addressing the British Medical Association’s (BMA) representative body on Sunday (14 September), Streeting said that doctors and other medical professionals have a key part to play in ensuring the health service does not falter.
“I think you know perhaps better than I do because you work in it. The NHS is hanging by a thread. So I urge the BMA not to pull on it,” he said.
He added that there are multiple issues facing the healthcare sector at the moment and that he government was heavily constrained monetarily.
“The economy and public finances are in a very different shape to when the last Labour government walked in in 1997. We’ve had 3% real terms growth in the NHS,” he said.
“Everyone on this call knows that while this is relatively good compared to the rest of the public sector, the word relative is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. So I simply cannot fix everything for everyone, everywhere, all at once.”
Streeting said that this will inevitably lead to tough choices and trade-offs in the health sector.
“And while I accept it’s not your job to indulge necessarily in the world of choices and trade-offs, if we are partners in this, then I do need a greater understanding of the constraints that I’m working under and a willingness to engage with and help me make those choices and trade-offs,” he said.
Streeting called on the BMA to change its approach to instead focus on saving the NHS.
“I can’t do this alone. I need partners, not adversaries. I’m in this job to fight for patients every day, just like you and just like you. I’m in this job to fight to save our NHS every day.
“If we join forces, it’s a fight we can win. If we’re pitted against each other, the whole country loses. I know that’s not what you want. It’s not what I want. And I hope that we can work together over the coming years to make sure that we can genuinely save for generations to come.
“That we were the generation that took the NHS in the worst crisis in its history, got it back on its feet, and made it fit for the future,” he said.
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